This Land, Your Land

The July issue of The Steward, the State Parks newsletter, provides an overview of May's public airing of the ongoing development of a master plan for Chimney Rock State Park.

The park encompasses some 4,300 acres in the Hickory Nut Gorge area at Lake Lure, including the formerly private Chimney Rock Park tourist attraction.

Nearly 200 people, most of them from the area, attended the day-long public planning session in Lake Lure.

The article describes three types of development plans:

- The “conservation-focused” alternative, which considers protection of eight significant natural heritage areas to be paramount and would allow limited public access. "It includes about 10 miles of hiking trails, two new day use areas, and a visitor center near Lake Lure, but otherwise, very little development outside of the existing Chimney Rock access."

- The “low impact recreation” alternative proposes using only previously disturbed areas for future park development. It would establish a visitor center at “the Meadows,” which is at the lower elevation of the existing Chimney Rock Park and would serve as a hub opening to an extensive network of trails and backcountry camping options on the gorge’s south side. The park would have three day use areas leading to mountain biking, climbing and additional hiking trails, with two of these on the north side of Hickory Nut Gorge.

- The “intensive recreation and use” plan calls for a visitor center on the summit of Chimney Rock Mountain above the developed area, in an abandoned 25-acre orchard. It would be a hub for backcountry and tent/trailer camping, picnicking and hiking. There would be five day use areas on the north and south sides of the gorge with access to camping, mountain biking, climbing, equestrian and hiking opportunities. A secondary visitor center and satellite park administrative offices would be built on the Rumbling Bald Mountain access area – property now under the protection of The Nature Conservancy.

The intensive recreation plan would require either access to the visitor center from the side of the park farthest from the Lake Lure area or construction of a "very expensive" road through the eastern area of the park.

Chuck Flink, president of Greenways Inc., the Durham-based environmental planning and landscape architecture firm responsible for completing the plan this year, said it’s highly likely the final master plan proposal will be a hybrid that sifts the best ideas from all three versions, the article says.

The public comment period for development of the Chimney Rock State Park master plan closed June 23, the Greenways site says.

The state Division of Parks and Recreation will dedicate the new visitor center at Raven Rock State Park in Lillington on Saturday, July 17.

Raven Rock State Park, named for the large rock face on the Cape Fear River (below), was established in 1969 and now encompasses 4,694 acres.

The project to build the 7,190-square-foot visitor center also included a picnic shelter, improvements to the picnic grounds, an accessible nature trail, a paved entrance road to the park and paved parking areas with space for 139 vehicles, a news release says. It all cost $4.3 million and came from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, the principal funding source for state park capital projects and land acquisition.

The new visitor center will present exhibits that explore the natural history and the unique geologic events that resulted in the Raven Rock landscape, the history of Cape Fear River navigation and the river’s importance to local culture and commerce.

The center is also designed to be LEED certified, with a geothermal heat pump, solar hot water heating and low-flow water fixtures, low-energy light fixtures, solar lights in the parking area, recycled building materials and natural landscaping.

A new attraction has risen from the sands at Jockeys Ridge State Park: a 60-foot-high wind turbine erected near the visitor center.

The turbine will supply electric power to the 420-acre park, according to the state Division of Parks and Recreation. The turbine and outdoor exhibits that explain its operation cost $140,000, which came from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, the principal funding source for state parks' capital projects and land acquisition.

The windmill has a 23-foot blade-span. It is on a single pole near the visitor center and several hundred yards from the 80-foot-high sand dune that gives the Dare County state park its name. The windswept park is also popular for hang gliding and kite flying. (The state's news release did not include a photo of the new turbine.)

"Exactly how much power the turbine will produce is not known ..." the state's news release says. "Park officials anticipate its power generation will offset most of the cost of supplying the visitor center, which includes an exhibit hall, an auditorium and park offices."

A News & Observer/Charlotte Observer report Sunday takes a look at how North Carolina's state parks are dealing with tight budgets in the faltering economy.

"Litter won't always be picked up as quickly. Maintenance projects are being deferred, and fewer seasonal workers are being hired," the report says.

State parks in 2009-'10 and in 2008-'09 got by with more than $5 million less than what the 2007-'08 budget provided.

Park funding is tied most directly to the economy through the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, which receives its money from a deed-transfer tax of $2 per $1,000 in value collected on real estate transactions, The N&O explains. The system also receives money from the state legislature and from user fees.

The park system usually hires about 700 seasonal employees each summer, but will hire fewer than 400 this year. There are nearly 70 full-time vacancies.

The system saw a record 14.2 million visits in 2009, a 13 percent increase over 2008, and expects a similar number of visitors this year.

Still, "North Carolina trails nearly all other states in park spending per resident. According to the National Association of State Park Directors, North Carolina spent $4.18 per person on parks in 2008, ranking 45th nationally. Delaware was No. 1, spending $26.50 per person; Texas was last, at $3.58."

Get a look at what's likely to be in store for Chimney Rock State park when the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation holds a public planning session May 26 at the Lake Lure Town Hall.

Folks can drop in any time from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. to see proposed design alternatives for the state park, a division news release says, and ask questions and offer comments to officials of the state parks system and Greenways Inc.

Greenways Inc., a Durham-based environmental planning and landscape architecture firm, is completing the plan. Beginning May 26, the design proposals will be available at www.greenways.com/chimneyrock.

"A state park’s master plan is essentially a blueprint for long-term development of facilities and recreation opportunities and a guide for protection of natural resources," the news release says. "It is meant to be an organic document, evolving as the park grows and as knowledge is gained about a park’s natural resources and public use."

Chimney Rock State Park, authorized in 2005, comprises more than 4,300 acres in Rutherford, Polk, Henderson and Buncombe counties, including Hickory Nut Gorge. The private Chimney Rock park was added to the state's property in 2007, and is the primary public access to the state park.

Written comments can be submitted through June 23 through the Greenways website or by mail to: General Management Plan Coordinator, N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, 1615 MSC, Raleigh, NC 27699-1615.

North Carolina State Parks this month initiated their first fee increase since 2003 for camping, cabin and boat rentals, admission to some swimming areas and picnic shelter rentals at all state parks and state recreation areas.

The amount of the increase varies, the state Division of Parks and Recreation news release says. "For example, the fee for a standard campsite without utilities will increase from $15 to $17 per night, admission to swim areas will increase from $4 to $5 per day and rental for a medium-sized picnic shelter will change from $60 to $70 per day."

Parking at Jordan Lake, Falls Lake and Kerr Lake state recreation areas will be $6 per vehicle.

Thirty-four of more than 50 State Parks properties have no admission fees, the news release says.

The General Assembly improved the fee increase in its 2009 session.

Ongoing renovations at Carolina Beach State Park are expected to keep the marina and all boating access closed through the summer, the Division of Parks and Recreation said in a news release.

The project, which began December 1, 2008, is projected to be completed in September.

The final phase will interrupt all access to the marina area, including parking lots, trail access points and the park’s fishing pier.

The $2.5 million project includes construction of new floating docks, additional boat slips, boat ramp improvements, walkways, above-ground fuel tanks and a redesigned parking area with additional single-vehicle spaces.

The access channel to the marina was dredged earlier.

The park’s Sugarloaf Trail and Swamp Trail will remain open with access from the visitor center via the Campground Trail or from a parking area at the end of Nature Trail Lane, the news release says.

Campers will continue to register for campsites at the visitor center office instead of at the marina, as they have since it has been closed.

Firefighters this week battled and contained a brush fire that scorched up to 100 acres at Morrow Mountain State Park in Stanly County.

The blaze broke out about 12:30 p.m. Sunday but by Tuesday afternoon firefighters were monitoring hot spots, according to WBTV in Charlotte.

The N.C. Division of Forest Resources had dozens of workers at the state park on Monday including forest rangers and burn crews.

The summit of Morrow Moutain, bridle trails and the Morrow Mountain and Mountain Loop trails remained closed as of early Wednesday.

Boat and canoe rentals will not be available at Morrow Mountain State Park in Stanly County this year, the state Division of Parks and Recreation said Wednesday

Storms that eroded the shoreline and flooding from Lake Tillery have damaged the boathouse, as well as much of the nearby Fall Mountain Trail, which remains closed.

Construction to replace the boathouse should begin later this year, and rentals should resume in 2011.

Elsewhere, docks damaged by winter flooding have been removed from the Ebenezer boat ramp access at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, although the boat ramps remain available for use.

Boaters that require or prefer the use of courtesy docks should launch from the Robeson Creek or Farrington Point boat ramp areas, which are open 24 hours a day, or from the New Hope access, which is open during normal state park operating hours.

The state parks system will gradually replace all of the existing floating courtesy docks at Jordan Lake with ones that do not rely on permanent pilings.

A pavilion-style picnic shelter, picnic grounds, play fields, a half-mile hiking trail and a ranger contact station open at Mayo River State Park Thursday, the long-awaited opening of the newest park in the state system.

The 1,961-acre state park was authorized by the N.C. General Assembly in 2003. The interim facilities are on a 398-acre site just north of Mayodan on N.C. 220 Business and known locally as Mayo Park, a news release from the Division of Parks and Recreation says.

The pavilion-style picnic shelter (below) and a cooking shelter were designed by renowned architect Antonin Raymond, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright who introduced a Japanese style of architecture to the U.S. incorporating natural materials. The pavilion and cooking shelter have been fully restored in wood and natural stone.

Land acquisition for Mayo River State Park continues within a 12-mile river corridor from Mayodan north to the Virginia state line. The state parks system owns about 400 acres contiguous to the state line, which could be developed as a second principal access to the park.